Abstract
In the first part, I argue that Antony and Cleopatra tracks the emergence of Caesar Augustus's imperium from the practice of triumphal procession that imperium both extends and displaces.1 The play interprets this historical development in terms of the young Caesar's political ambition to "'possess'" (2.7.100) time as well as space-an ambition that determines, and would be fulfilled within, the theater Caesar envisions but is denied.2 The second part of the essay turns to the alternative theatrical model that is embodied in Cleopatra's suicide, which she performs as the dramatization of her earlier appearance at Cydnus "[w]hen she first met Mark Antony" (2.2.196). The exemplum is provided by Christ. [...]the judgement-day," Bale explains, Christ "hath had in his hand the judgment, and not judged," serving instead as "the altar of the righteous . . . an altar of means-making to God the Father for us; but, that day once come, no longer shall he be an altar . .